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An Ohio State blog for the Buckeye fan in all of us.Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:10:12 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1Silver Bullet Points Turns To The Skieshttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-turns-to-the-skies.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=silver-bullet-points-turns-to-the-skies
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-turns-to-the-skies.html#commentsThu, 17 Oct 2013 11:54:08 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=38979I apologize. I googled “songs about Iowa” and this came up. Yeah, it’s pretty much what you’d expect. Here’s a palate cleanser… also from Iowa. Buckeye 411 Injury Update- Tommy Schutt is indeed back in the rotation, and Jordan Hall is healthy enough to see time on special teams. One interesting note from Wednesday Afternoon- […]

Injury Update- Tommy Schutt is indeed back in the rotation, and Jordan Hall is healthy enough to see time on special teams. One interesting note from Wednesday Afternoon- Braxton said that his knee is getting better, but still creates some problems for him when he cuts; he doesn’t feel 100% as of yet. Clair was right on Tuesday!

Getting Wrinkly- Coach Meyer talked about Ohio State unleashing some new wrinkles on offense after the bye week. My current status? Giddy.

Get A Grip- Braxton addressed the “fumblitis” from Northwestern, and talked about the efforts he’s made over the past week to protect the ball and keep it closer to his body. The coaching staff even had him holding it during stretching to get the point.

Hyde, If You Dare- Carlos seemed more than a little excited in Wednesday’s interviews, saying that he was finally “100% back”, and looked forward to the remaining games of the season. Coach Meyer highlighted his leadership since his return, and said that Iowa’s description of Hyde being a “beast” was cool.

Trench Warfare- Iowa’s defense hasn’t given up a rushing touchdown, while Ohio State’s offensive line is a strength of the team. It’ll be a game that will make Woody proud, and one that Cory Linsley highlighted as something that the front was really looking forward to.

Secondary Matters- Pittsburgh Brown talked about the need to be smart against play action when facing the Hawkeyes, as well as opened up about the defensive back’s communication improvements since some of the errors during the Wisconsin game.

Like A Bosa- Freshman Joey Bosa is listed as the starter against Iowa, with Adolphus Washington healthy enough to see meaningful time as well. Jason talked earlier about this- what would a “NASCAR” package like some NFL teams have gone to look like for the Buckeyes? Bosa, Washington, Bennett, and… maybe Jamal Marcus?

By Oden’s Knees! Buckeye Greg Oden is trying another comeback, this time with the Miami Heat. Bad news, though- the Heat, who are monitoring his knees on a daily basis, have held him out of practice with some slight swelling. Hopefully, their proactive efforts will help Greg finally get his time in the spotlight.

This Week In Silverman- Great reminder from the graphic design wizard at Ohio State:

The Future Is Now- It’s interesting to think that many of the Ohio State recruits that we’re excited to welcome to the 2014 class will be in their last years in the program when the schedule that was released today comes to fruition. The entire B1G schedule for 2018 and 19 was announced, and we now know a bit more about how the “new guys” will fit into the conferences as well as the impact of the 9 game B1G expectations. For instance, 2018 has 5 conference home games for the Buckeyes, while 2019 has only 4. We’ll continue to see conference games earlier in the season, and will lose some of the rivals that we’ve grown accustomed to lately- we won’t see Wisconsin or Northwestern for another 6 years unless both teams make it to Indy. You can check the whole schedule and notes from today’s release at the official site.

Because Someone Hates Me- Ohio State plays Nebraska four times from 2014 to 2019. Luckily, my couch is very comfortable… Also, check out the Husker Nation travel plan for 2018- at Ohio State, at Michigan, at Wisconsin, and at Northwestern. Wheeeee!

The names include a “Who’s Who” of sports- athletic directors, former stars, coaching legends, people connected to the pulse of college football, and others who understand both the national zeitgeist and the values of academia.

In other words- Human Error.

Look, I have no issue with the particulars of the committee’s makeup. I’m a fan of Coach Willingham and Coach Osborne, think Condi will do just fine thankyouverymuch. The only problems that I might have is the inclusion of the director of a conference that no longer exists and having the man who thought Bert Bielema and John L. Smith were good hires serve as chair.

But those things are just small potatoes compared to my major realization: None of this will matter.

It was also revealed that this group would release a top 25 a few occasions during the upcoming season, and that their votes/input would be anonymous in order to protect the process.

So again, that’s people getting together to make a list, but not letting you know their rhyme or reason. In other words… what we had before the 1992 Bowl Coalition.

“But it’ll help make sure that everyone gets a fair opportunity, and that it’s not just the same teams and the same financial ties…” Right. This year, there’s a possiblity of 6 undefeated teams at the end of the season; do you really think that there’d be any more clarity with a committee that chose which four got to move on to the playoff?

“I’m sure it will expand, though…“ That’s not really the point. First, if there’s 8 teams, we’re arguing about #9. If there are 16, #17 has pissed off fans. Look no further than the expansion of March Madness and the “bubble watch” for proof of this. Also, I’m not sure expanding is a good thing- think of NFL teams that have clinched their playoff berths and screw up your fantasy roster on the last week of the season by resting the starters… that’s a real possibility moving forward.

We’ll be just as frustrated with the new Playoffs as we were with the old Polls and Bowls, and then the Bowl Coalition, and the Bowl Alliance, and the late great BCS. They’ll make adjustments; adding teams, considering “all the data available”, inviting new bowl partners, playing games in cold weather stadiums (oh, who am I kidding), all without addressing the one truth of the matter- Fans will argue about the accuracy no matter what.

I said this in 1986 in a Public Speaking assignment while I was in high school, I wrote about this in 2009, and it’s still true today.

“Champion”, as a delineation, is only as significant as we allow it to be- think of Auburn’s recent title; there are a lot of folks who disregard this with no problem whatsoever. And since “champion” is a shared construct from fans, whatever the fans choose to accept as the way to determine that title will ultimately be the “best” way, be it a tournament, a “plus one”, or another true game of skill.

But by no means will that choice be universal or perfect… and we should just learn to love that the imperfection will always be part of the culture of college sports.

And Finally: Sunday returned our favorite cast of battered Georgians (nope, not Mark Richt’s team), as The Walking Dead came back to AMC just in time for Halloween season. There’s still time to get on board if you’ve not watched it thus far- here’s a helpful trailer to catch you up to speed:

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-turns-to-the-skies.html/feed6Silver Bullet Points Collects Changehttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/silver-bullet-points-collects-change.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=silver-bullet-points-collects-change
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/silver-bullet-points-collects-change.html#commentsWed, 24 Apr 2013 11:54:32 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=33555After a weekend in the land of authentic pizza and corrupt government, there’s really only one choice for this week’s soundtrack, particularly with all of the news coming out of B1G headquarters. Buckeye 411 Gonna’ be honest- not much in the way of news in Columbus these days, Thank Woody. Here’s some tidbits, though: Hockey […]

Gonna’ be honest- not much in the way of news in Columbus these days, Thank Woody. Here’s some tidbits, though:

Hockey Bucks-Whispers on Tuesday were that Ohio State will make current interim coach Steve Rholik the permanent leader for the upcoming season. Not a “slam dunk”, but certainly a solid hire nonetheless.

iTBDBITL-Interesting article in The Lantern today regarding the OSU Marching Band’s efforts to save paper and procure iPads for everyone involved in the program. There are a ton of advantages to this idea,

Using certain applications available on the iPads, members of the band would be able to read music, send out videos of rehearsals and also read field charts. Normally, only the band director is able to see the bigger picture in motion while the band members look at papers.

“Instead of one person getting to see the bigger picture, now everyone gets to see the actual animation,” Barta said.

King and Barta said they are not aware of any other university band using this type of technology, which they hope will also help them recruit future Buckeyes.

“We are similar to sports teams in terms of recruiting,” King said. “We are trying to get the best high school student musicians to come play our band.”

The alignment will follow the “What they should have done in the first place” strategy, and be split east and west with Purdue and Indiana feeling the brunt of the axe. Much has been written about the “loaded” Eastern Division To Be Horribly Named Later, which will see Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State battling for divisional supremacy. While a lot of folks might feel that this is unfair to those programs, it’s important to recall that when the SEC initially was formed there were similar feelings regarding Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia all calling the same division home.

For me, though, the tragedy will befall our Brothers From Another Mother in Lincoln, as Nebraska’s chances for a National Title will suffer under this new plan. A ‘Husker team that runs the table and manages to upset an Ohio State team battered from the Eastern Front wars will only have one or two quality wins under it’s belt- not enough, in this writer’s opinion, to catapult them into the College Football Playoff (more later). As such, Big Red Nation will need to hope that their non-conference schedule will be strong enough to help carry the load of facing Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and the like every year. So, probably not a lot of Wyoming on future dockets.

It’s true that the same can be said for fellow Western “power” Wisconsin… but screw those guys.

One Hundred Years Young

This year is the 100th anniversary of the Grandaddy of Them All, and Tuesday’s release of the event’s logo showed that it is possible to maintain class and poise and prestige while still looking modern and eyecatching. This distinction will be important to remember a bit later in our discussion this morning.

Personally, I’d much rather that Ohio State not be a part of this historic event on January 1 here in my back yard. Nope- I’d rather that the Buckeyes’ visit to SoCal be about a week later… for the National Title Game.

I’m still of the mindset that the deck is not done shuffling, and that the forthcoming playoff of four teams is positioned best for a four conference model. But, given the recent news, which is in contrast with what we’ve heard all spring regarding both the B1G and SEC being interested in ACC programs, it certainly seems as if the old truism is just that- “You just never know”.

End Of The NCAA?

We’ve speculated recently that the times, they may be a’changin’ for the folks in Indianapolis; that the growth and money involved with major college athletics require a new model to best try to keep these behemoths reigned in and playing by the same rules.

Presidential control was supposed to produce less corruption, make it easier to make rules, reduce escalation of money in college sports, give academics the ability to change college sports. It’s almost hard to keep from laughing when you say those things, because obviously, it hasn’t worked.

USA Today even got into the conversation, speculating as we have that a “break” from the NCAA may be forthcoming; the larger programs moving outside of the organization due to the money and power that they wield. Yet another lengthy discussion of the issue, it does a good job of thinking through the impact that a split would have, Marcus Hartman also points out that such a move would make a shared goal much more difficult to accomplish; there are also huge areas that the large and small schools have in common, not the least of which is the tax exempt status that these “educational endeavors” enjoy.

Although, as we’ve highlighted, that may be changing soon. The O’Bannon case continues to weigh heavily on the minds of those in leadership at these national programs, and rightly so. The impacts, in the eyes of many, will be far reaching and may even include a revisioning of the enforcement and sanctioning process-

Robert F. Orr, an adjunct law professor at UNC and former associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, called the NCAA’s rules “one of the heights of hypocrisy.”

“It’s not just a question about compensating student-athletes,” he said. “At a minimum, we should stop punishing these men and women because somebody buys them dinner, or a suit if they don’t have a suit, or a room at a hotel.”

Or if they… ahem… sell things that belong to them.

With all this chaos, it continues to see how this impacts the realignment we discussed earlier as well as the continuing attempts by the NCAA to tighten up their regulatory bodies and guidelines.

That’s what happens when you don’t have The Best Damn Band In The Land, amIright?

College Football Playoff

I wish I had a catchy header to discuss this, but what you see there is what we got.

Yup, on Tuesday the “we’re not calling this a playoff, but a four team event” got some fancy nomenclature, that being the “College Football Playoff”. Seriously. And you thought the OSU logo change was the height of marketing exploitation of stupidity.

This week, we saw the amazing work of some of our nation’s bravest and most intelligent, well trained law enforcement professionals wrap up the investigation and arrest those folks responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing.

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/silver-bullet-points-collects-change.html/feed4The Week That Were: 11.17.12http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/the-week-that-were-11-17-12.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-week-that-were-11-17-12
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/the-week-that-were-11-17-12.html#commentsMon, 19 Nov 2012 12:54:35 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=28079We’re going to do things just a little bit differently this week, given all of the amazing news and events that happened this past weekend. So, this will be part Silver Bullet Points, part Monday Morning Commentary, and the usual chunk of random observations from Saturday’s events in the world of college football. Here’s something […]

In this year’s edition of the Battle For Los Angeles, the upstart UCLA Bruins jumped out to a quick lead and held on to “upset” the Trojans by ten points on a gray day in Pasadena. While the Bruins obviously have been playing much better football this year, you’ve also got to wonder if the trajectories of the programs have now crossed, particularly given some of the issues that continue to swirl at Southern Cal.

As the team that was picked by many to contend for the national title, the frustration for many SC fans has been swirling since the loss to what we now know is a pretty good Stanford team. That game highlighted the Trojans’ issues with depth; injuries since then have continued to create problems and have certainly didn’t help in their back to back losses to Arizona and Oregon. The defeat by the Ducks made things even more problematic, since SC’s defense was a point of strength for them under current coordinator Monte Kiffin; their being gashed turned up the heat on the current coaching administration. And now, to lose to “little brother” has many wondering if it’s not time to make a change.

In addition, earlier this week Tennessee was dinged for recruiting issues that occurred under Kiffin’s one year tenure in Knoxville- issues that involved Chip Kelly’s favorite videographer, Willie Lyles. Given the length of the investigation into Oregon’s program and this new decision at UT involving Lyles, you’ve got to think that there’s more than a few million good reasons for Kelly to take the Pete Carroll route and jump to the NFL ASAP.

What does this mean for Kiffin? At this time, it’s difficult to say, but losing Matt Barkley for the matchup against Notre Dame this weekend, combined with the continuing scholarship losses for the next couple of years would certainly be reason to wonder how warm his office chair will be getting this winter.

Sentient?

Interestingly enough, the other two programs involved in “affair du Lyles” also had difficult weekends. Derek Dooley’s Volunteers lost to cross-state foe Vanderbilt, and it wasn’t even close. The win ensures that UT will have a losing season for the third time in as many years, and was only the second victory for the Commodores in 35 years. Following the game, the inevitable happened… Dooley was fired, effective immediately. If you’re an Ohio State fan, you’ve got to wonder if this might have an impact on current recruits looking at both programs… Vonn Bell is the name that pops up, but there may be others in the 2014 class. This year’s season ending clash between the Vols and ‘Kats will feature both coaches in either interim or lame duck status… it’s going to be a fun coaching carousel for the SEC this season.

Lyle’s third “partner” in all of this felt the sting of their first loss on Saturday, at home, to a Stanford team that should be in the conversation about the top programs in the nation. Remember, they’re a botched call from extending overtime in South Bend and possibly ending the Irish Nightmare that we are currently facing. I was most impressed with The Cardinal’s defense on Saturday- disciplined, aggressive, and never seemed to give up the big play to an offense that most often looks like throwing kerosene on a bonfire… one blink, and it’s over. Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything. Ahem.

Does Nike gear wick away tears?

The loss can easily be attributed to a lot of things- Oregon being too confident, and this being the Duck’s annual brain fart game; Questionable officiating, A “trap” game, with the resurgent Beavers looming Thanksgiving week… But all of these would not do a service to the great work that the coaches at Stanford, starting with Jim Harbaugh, have done in building a program that can certainly play with anyone in the country. It’s also why I think that Alabama, if given the usual bowl prep to face Oregon, would beat them- I believe that the Tide’s defense is more athletic and much more disruptive than Stanford’s… and the template we’ve seen in the Ducks’ losses over the past four years is now pretty well known. You just need to have the horses to pull it off; Stanford did on Saturday, and now control their PAC12 destiny. They’ll need to beat UCLA twice in two weeks to do so, but doing so may have the Oregon Ducks on the outside of the BCS championship game AND the automatic Rose Bowl berth… along with USC. It’s been that kind of year.

Oh, and on Saturday Northwestern, Stanford, and Vanderbilt all won. Nerds, y’all.

Commentary: Polls and Playoffs

Much of Buckeye Nation was freaked out on Sunday when the AP rankings came out and still had the undefeated Ohio State team ranked behind two teams with losses, both from the Southeast Conference. Our friend Grant Edgell took a look back at the last ten seasons, and at no time was an undefeated team from a power conference ranked behind one loss teams this late in the season. The Dispatch and the Plain Dealer will have articles about the “situation” on Monday, and Lori Schmidt pointed out that for every voter that has the Buckeyes second, there are others who have them lower than fifth.

Here’s my take: I. Don’t. Care.

Never A Doubt

Two reasons for this, before you start going to your local torch and pitchfork emporium. First- It’s Game Week. There’s one goal this week for Ohio State, and it’s within their control. There’s nothing that they can do about voters or media members or computers… just win the game, THE GAME, and worry about where the chips will fall after that all settles.

That’s been the plan for Ohio State all season, and shouldn’t change just because people are now getting their knickers in a knot. Plus, it’s not like any Buckeye will ever need a reason to get excited and play with just a little more heart this Saturday… and all this talk about rankings and such might actually be a distraction. So forget it. Focus on the job at hand- Beat Mich1gAAn.

Second reason that I’m not getting all in a tizzy about this story- it doesn’t matter. Unfortunately for those of you who enjoy brevity, there are subpoints here- It doesn’t matter because the University and the NCAA chose to keep Ohio State on the sidelines this postseason… right or wrong, without a wrinkle in the space/time continuum or a presidential edict, it ain’t changing. It also doesn’t matter because we’re still dealing with an imperfect popularity contest- always has been that way and always will be.

These types of things are subjective in nature, and short of a tournament with multi-game series at neutral sites, we’ll never really be able to tell. This weekend is a perfect example: Just as Oregon and KSU had off nights, it’s quite possible to have the same matchup problems or hiccups in a “one and done” championship game. These types of things only prove who’s the best on a given night; it may be the team that’s best overall, but it might not be.

Finally, this doesn’t matter because it shouldn’t change our pride and passion for the Buckeyes. We’ve talked about this before- other than bragging rights for fans and “lifetime moments” for the players, there’s not really much gained for a “championship”. Well, unless you’re an athletic department who’ll make a shirt for just about anything- that can make things pretty lucrative. Recruits will go to great programs no matter their final rankings (how else do you explain Notre Dame?), and fans and booster will still support their schools- sometimes even more robustly when they’ve felt “slighted”.

So, allow me to conclude by paraphrasing scripture- If you do well, will you not be accepted? And you would be wise to do well- evil is crouching at your door, and you must master it. Beat Mich1gAAn.

—

Whooooo!!!!

We talked about this already, but Kansas State bombed enormously against Baylor; you can bet there were plenty of Honor Code Violations going on Saturday Night in Waco. I have a ton of respect for what Bill Snyder is doing in Manhattan, and this was only strengthened by his post game comments… professional, responsible, gracious, forthright. The Wildcats are in good hands, even if portions of their fanbase are more than likely chemically imbalanced. In the best of ways, of course.

A coach I get a kick out of that is the anti-Snyder is Les Miles, whose LSU Tigers were able to overcome both Old Miss and their own press clippings… watching the game was fascinating, as the crack staff at CBSEC continued to tout the Tigers as candidates for the national title consideration as they trailed for much of the game. Miles’ work after the game, though, was quite possibly one of the most… uh… interesting press conferences that I’d ever seen; I’ve never witnessed such range of emotion as he wandered through the good and bad of a very exciting victory of his team. Seriously, take a second or three to watch the whole thing and then imagine your company president choosing to respond this way at the next corporate gathering.

LSU’s win over Old Miss was anchored by an amazing punt return from Odell Beckham Jr., which wins both our “play of the week” and “hit of the week” award- check out the block at the beginning that clears two Rebel defenders:

Miles’ squad was one of only three games in the mighty S!E!C! to be intra-conference… other “powerful” matchups from the week included Kentucky beating Samford, Alabama rolling Western Carolina, Florida handling Jacksonville State, and other amazing wastes of season ticket money. Kudos to Auburn for finally winning; shame and blame to Missouri for dropping their game against Syracuse.

In a bit of a preview for The Game, things are certainly getting interesting up north- Denard has finally moved to tailback and ended the fairy tale that he was a quarterback, and Devan Gardner has overcome his debilitating back injury to develop into a solid quarterback. I’m most impressed with the defensive effort that TTUN has put up recently, although this week it was against Iowa, where Kirk Ferentz has been stealing money for about three years now. They’ll be without running back Fitz Toussaint this coming Saturday, though… watch this if you really want to see why. It’s not pretty.

As you’re reading this, I’m on a plane headed back to the motherland for a week of feasting and being Thankful. As you’re reading this, there’s probably a great chance that Maryland has joined the B1G, and Rutgers is not far behind. Yup, we’re doing that again.

There are a lot of reasons that these are dumb moves- lack of athletic prestige for both of these programs, yet another need to entrust scheduling and conference naming to the people who threatened to move The Game and gave us “Leaders and Legends”… but the fact of the matter is that this has been inevitable for a while.

Expanding The Footprint

Both programs need funding to survive- they are in the “have not” category, subsidized by state budgets in states that are looking for places to make cuts. As Vico suggests (read that article… as always, it’s great), this deal will effectively trade state funding for BTN revenue sharing. It also helps the conference fight the “landlocked midwestern” stereotype, particularly in relation to two huge television markets: NY/NJ and Baltimore/DC.

In addition to the research possibilities that this move will open up (and the B1G is as much about academics as it is athletics) the expansion into the NY/NJ market alone will help strengthen the conference’s ability to grow further. As other conferences disband or shift, wouldn’t you want to be in a grouping that had a solid footing in the largest media market in the country? And this week’s agreement between YES (Yankees Network) and Fox (major stakeholders in the BTN) certainly didn’t hurt the powers that be who were trying to make this move.

It may also have some interesting ripples- if it destabilizes the ACC, the FU/Clemson move that we heard about all summer might finally come to pass. Notre Dame could find themselves on the outside again, joining a conference that’s on the verge of another set of exoduses. Other ACC schools might head to the B1G as well- I’ve heard Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia, Duke all mentioned… as well as bigger fish on the western border of the conference.

We’re headed for the 2014 playoff model, consolidating power and money in ways that will keep the machine rolling. I’m coming to learn to live with that, since I really don’t have a choice… given all of this as well as the criticism that college sports is getting regarding the economic issues for players and smaller programs, perhaps once this all settles we can start talking about decoupling athletic programs from Universities so both can honestly thrive: semi-professional sports and academic institutions. A guy can dream, can’t he?

Since we’re welcoming our new turtle-y overlords, it’s time to talk uniform updates! Here’s the “Black Ops” look that the Terps wore against Florida State. For a program that wants to be the “Oregon Of The East”, they certainly have the “bunches of goofy uniforms” thing down to a science. Maryland doesn’t win this week’s “Fashion Nightmare” award, though… that honor goes to the folks at Virginia Tech, who decided for some crazy reason to have Warner Brothers’ Henry the Chicken Hawk as their helmet logo for this past weekend. Brave.

Also, by the time you’ve read this far, Ohio State has more than likely “announced” their rivalry gear for The Game this year… we got a look earlier, and I know that the retail vendors in Columbus have the tshirts and sweatshirts. We’ll have more on this later, but keep an eye on our friends at the Buckeye Room for the best updates on fan apparel.

Another program that likes to mix and match their gameday gear is peaking at just the right time- T Boone Pickens University stomped Texas Tech on Saturday and heads into the Bedlam game with Oklahoma on a nice streak. OU isn’t doing so poorly offensively as well, managing to beat West Virginia y one point after the Mountaineers managed over 700 yards of offense. If TBPU can get one or two defensive stops, they’ve got what they need offensively to beat the Sooners.

Oh, and Notre Dame won. Wheee. They’re undefeated, and will play Southern Cal next weekend, minus the Trojan’s senior QB. Wheee. Personally, I’m hoping that the Mayans were right, should Notre Dame end up in the MNC game. I’m still of the mindset that Oregon/Alabama would be the “best matchup”… but, as I said before, it really doesn’t matter.

Commentary- Kids Today

The news on Sunday from Minnesota involved Gopher wide receiver A.J. Barker quitting the team, in spite of being the team’s leading offensive weapon. In a lengthy and open letter that was posted on the internet, Barker claims that his decision to quit and transfer was based on his frustration with the way he was treated by Coach Jerry Kill, alleging emotional abuse and lies from the coach all season long. Barker has been recovering from an ankle injury recently.

In both cases, I wish nothing but the best for the young men in question and corrections made within both programs should adjustments or disciplinary action be necessary. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, particularly when they are sacrificing so much of their lives to participate in college sports.

That being said, two things came to my mind as I read these two accounts. The first is the way that the internet has flattened the communication chain- in the past, player/coach issues would be handled “in house”; for better and for worse. Now, with the access that everyone has to blogging and social media sites, it’s easy to get an account out to the public- and also difficult to get it back once it’s been released.

I’m not, under any circumstances, blaming these two young men for having “bad attitudes”- instead, I’m pointing out how challenging coaching is these days. We’ve all heard stories about players who were told they were the greatest from the moment they stepped onto the court or field; heck, some of us might have our favorite programs on probation because of these types of wunderkinds. But to find a way to get these people to achieve and develop into something bigger than themselves… and to do so in the context of a team sport, is pretty challenging.

—

It’s Thanksgiving week, and we’ll have some special things coming up for you as we get closer and closer to The Game. It’s the week of Rivalries across the country; the Shillelagh, the Oaken Bucket, the Commander In Chief Trophy, Paul Bunyan’s Axe, Bedlam… all happen this week, for which we are thankful.

This year’s favorite high school tradition is once again a JV affair, since Kirkwood finds themselves in the Missouri State Championship again. I’ll be in St. Louis, so may head over to the Dome to watch them play as well as catching Ohio State commit Ezekiel Elliott as the Bombers seek a state title.

But today we close with a tribute to someone that my wife is very thankful for, and a person who’s had a deep impact on college sports- particularly football. From this week’s BTN broadcast, here’s Dr. Tom Osborne’s last “Tunnel Walk” with the Huskers:

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/the-week-that-were-11-17-12.html/feed2We're Talking Playoffs: College Football's New Realityhttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/were-talking-playoffs-college-footballs-new-reality.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=were-talking-playoffs-college-footballs-new-reality
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/were-talking-playoffs-college-footballs-new-reality.html#commentsWed, 27 Jun 2012 11:54:24 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=24879Or, as it’s also known, “Now we have a different thing to argue about”. Today, the presidents of the BCS conferences announced that they’d come to an agreement regarding the terms and conditions of a “four team event” beginning the fall season of 2014. If you’ll remember, we argued for playoffs for a long time […]

A selection committee will select (duh) the participants, which will be seeded for the first round matchups.

The selection committee will evaluate the win-loss record, the strength of schedules, head to head record, and whether or not a team is a conference champion. The final matrix for this determination has not yet been decided.

There will be four teams- more would not fit in the “Academic calendars”. The rest of the NCAA thinks that’s cute.

The semi-finals will be on December 31 and January 1; the final will be on the first Monday that’s more than 6 days away from January 1.

Six bowls will rotate the semi-finals, with the finals being bid out nationally and facilitated by the conferences. It will not be a “bowl game” per se.

Rumors are that the Rose, and “Champions” (SEC/B12) Bowls are among the six bowls in line for the semifinals, with the other four to be bid. You’ve got to think that the Sugar/Orange/Fiesta will be in the conversations, although the controversies around these over the past months might be a challenge.

This is a twelve year agreement, although the financial issues (TV Revenue, allocations, etc.) are still being ironed out. The Commissioners have agreed in principal, but need the Presidents to be on board before it’s finalized.

While this is a step in the right direction, there are still a number of things that are missing from making this ideal (outside of the “what does it mean to be ‘champion’ anyway? thing). Here are some of my initial reflections…

It's About Time

Watch what happens with the “matrix” There’s still a ton to be worked out on how the selection committee will pull things together: Who’s on that committee? When will they start announcing seeding/rankings? Will strength of schedule or conference champions be significant, or “polls” and public opinion? These will be the topics of debate in the coming twelve years. That being said,

This decision, while landmark, only shifts the argument/debate. Before it was “who’s number one?” Then, the BCS came along and the discussion moved to “Who’s number two?” A four team playoff, while awesome in it’s own way, means that future arguments will be around “Who’s number four”? and “Why only four??” Remember, March Madness started with 16 teams, until programs started complaining and the possibility for more revenue opportunities were created.

This is still about money. If it wasn’t, you’d see much more interest in having the semi-finals on college campuses, rather than connected to the cash cows and tax free frauds that are the current bowl system. Yes, four other games will be bid out and not affiliated with bowl games… but are you telling me that these will be “bid” to the “Best” location and not the one with the most expendable cash? Remember the guys who came up with the BCS? This was their idea…

But not money where it counts. It was good to hear Mack Brown ask the question about student athlete stipends, given that this could result in a windfall in the billions for the conferences and institutions… Will this be the end of the “amateur” charade? Als0- given that there will be two major games within seven to nine days of each other, how do you think this will impact fan base travel and spending? I have a hard time imagining that, say, Illinois fans will be excited to travel to a semi-final game with all of their vacation dollars when they might have the change to travel to see the Illini play in the title game (Yeah, I laughed out loud reading those last eight words as well). As such, will a title game turn into the “Super Bowl” in terms of attendance- hangers ons and celebrities rather than season ticket holders and die-hard fans? Although, I’m sure that the game will make tickets available for the institutions involved and their bands… and charge them a premium for every single one.

Some teams will still have a home field advantage. I do like the fact that four of the games will be bid out, as it has a chance to change the fact that most bowls are in the backyards of non-B1G teams, but I can’t imagine that these bids wouldn’t go to “systems” that are already established (current bowl games). However, if the home of the NCAA can host the March Madness finals, why couldn’t we have a D1 Semi or Final game in Indianapolis? St. Louis is also a possibility- or, how awesome would it be to see one in Chicago… outdoors, in Soldier Field, in early January? Freezing your SEC off is what football is about.

We need more bowls? Don’t think for a minute that the extra games will go into hibernation during the years where they’re not “in play”. I believe that we’ll see a combination of “traditional” and new each year: Rose and Bid Winner, Fiesta and Bid Winner, Orange and Bid Winner. But I also think that, so closely removed from a number of scandals in bowl committees and the possibility that there wouldn’t be enough programs with 6 wins to play in all the games that currently existed, it’s not a great idea to add even more of these post-season situations.

And now the conference expansion shuffle begins anew. Perhaps not immediately, but watch what happens as the “matrix” gets solidified. If being a conference champion is a high priority (the B1G proposal), then you can bet that major independents will start looking for new homes. If strength of schedule is a key aspect, schools will start jumping to more prestigious conferences in order to fit in. Looks like Boise’s wait might have actually been a good idea.

For the record, we’re excited for this “four team event” or “PL4YOFF” to take effect during Braxton’s Senior Year, and will be cheering like crazy and arguing like mad before, during, and after.

But in the midst of the celebration, let’s remember that there’s a lot of things to be worked out, and a lot of ways this can still go pear-shaped. As someone said on Twitter earlier- the first time three SEC teams make the four team playoff, or your favorite team gets left out, all bets are off.

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/were-talking-playoffs-college-footballs-new-reality.html/feed2Silver Bullet Points Gets Bombedhttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-gets-bombed.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=silver-bullet-points-gets-bombed
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-gets-bombed.html#commentsWed, 20 Jun 2012 11:54:06 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=24845It’s Wednesday, halfway to what’s sure to be another glorious June weekend. Big thanks to “Darth Grant” for finding the inspiration for this week’s title and lead photo- Eric may have some more on this story a bit later in the summer, but for now, here’s one of the men behind that amazing flying machine. […]

Two Sport Athlete? We introduced you to the newest member of Ohio State’s 2013 class on Tuesday, but found out later in the day that Johnny Townsend hopes to walk on to the Ohio State baseball team as well. Given that we’ve got a Boren with similar interests, I’m looking forward to seeing how Coach Meyer chooses to allow these opportunities- although, I remember that several Gators also ran track. We’ll see…

It’s Not A Red Flag, It’s Scarlet- After news broke regarding Jared Sullinger’s “medical red flags”, several interesting comments emerged. Jared’s dad theorized that some of this “news” was actually being leaked by teams lower in the draft who were hoping Sully would fall to them- this would be frustrating, in terms of lost money, but might put him on a much better team to start his career. At any rate, you’d think that the NBA would not allow tampering with… sorry, I just couldn’t finish that without laughing. You’ve got to wonder, though, if there are numerous players with these types of issues, why is Sullinger’s the only name we’ve heard? The Four Letter Network had a couple of diverse opinions- Dickie V said that you don’t need clinics and workouts to know Sullinger’s going to be a star, you just have to watch him play. And then there’s Michael Wilbon, who said that he’d pass on Sully in the first round because “Ohio State. And Greg Oden”. Somewhere, Mark May rubs his hands together and gloats…

“Crushed”- According to Tim May, that was Urban Meyer’s reaction when hearing about Mewhort and Stoneburner’s transgressions, although he went on to say that he thought they’d rebound well. This is an interesting observation, and one that Andrew made today over at The Empire- Kids that Urban respects and counts on make a mistake, and he “feels” for them. But, he still holds them accountable at a very high standard. While this is an intriguing corrective decision given that both Ohio State and Florida have struggled due to student athletes being on their own agenda and not on the team’s page, I’m also impressed at this from a Higher Education Professional’s viewpoint. While not always true, there is a sense of privilege and entitlement that has crept into the current generation of young adults, and learning early on that decisions have real consequences is more than developmentally appropriate. Given that young adults are still developing their pre-frontal cortices, where decision making occurs, a concrete life lesson like the one that these guys are receiving has the possibility of lasting long after the days in the ‘Shoe are over.

So as we stare down the coming 2012 college football season, a billowing cloud of fury and excitement just now beginning to peak over the late-June horizon, it becomes apparent that no matter how bad things got in Columbus last year, that the Buckeyes were merely down on the mat for a short time. The cartoon birds flew in quick circles as Ohio State shook its head and looked up at the rest of the Big Ten standing over it grinning. But the birds have gone away and the Buckeyes are back on their feet.

Wisdom, Thy Name Is Alton

Across The NCAA

Sandusky- Defense is doing what it does, his wife testified, and this could go to jury by the weekend. That’s all you’re gonna’ get from us; sorry. It’s almost a tie to find out which is more frightening- the testimony of the victims or the rationalization by some people on some of the Lion message boards. This isn’t meant to be a commentary on PSU fans, but on the nature of message boards and fandom in general- every team has folks that want to believe what they want to believe, in spite of the evidence otherwise.

The University of Kentucky basketball program is always happy to recruit fresh negroes each year, some of whom leave campus without ever learning how to read or write at a 9th grade level. While the campus always finds excuses for not recruiting black students, staff or faculty, they never run short of ways to find big, black bucks to fuel their economic powerhouse. In many ways, the campus is the worst version of what many universities have become across America: Places where there is more talk than action, and “diversity” is just a meaningless buzzword recited in order to make people feel good.

Dr. Watkins was an active undergraduate while I was at UK, and I’m excited to see that he’s still asking big questions about higher education, race and ethnicity, and (in this case) the intersection of these things in college athletics.

And Finally

Yeah, That’s Just Awkward- And of course he’s wearing a “Block O” hat… although, it could have been worse:

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-gets-bombed.html/feed1Silver Bullet Points Has Enough Tieshttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-has-enough-ties.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=silver-bullet-points-has-enough-ties
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-has-enough-ties.html#commentsWed, 13 Jun 2012 11:54:52 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=24781Just a friendly warning that there are only four more days to borrow money from your pops so you can buy him a gift. If you’re looking for ideas, check our friends at The Buckeye Room… And now, the news. Buckeye 411 We Hardly New Ye- Well, it wasn’t news to us, as we’d heard […]

]]>Just a friendly warning that there are only four more days to borrow money from your pops so you can buy him a gift. If you’re looking for ideas, check our friends at The Buckeye Room… And now, the news.

Buckeye 411

For The Guy Who Has Everything

We Hardly New Ye- Well, it wasn’t news to us, as we’d heard for a while that Brian Bobek was looking to transfer, but earlier this week the University made it official. Potential landing spots could be the University of West By God Virginia, and a B1G program yet to be named. Brian’s got family across the conference, so we wish him luck in all of his games except one. A bit of a sad note, since he was supposed to be “next up” after Brewster graduated; however he was jumped on the depth chart in the spring, including being passed up by the latest in the Boren Legacy (just an incoming freshman). Again, godspeed!

Now That’s What I Call Trolling- News early Tuesday was that Urban Meyer and the staff were going to… Michigan? Seems that the staff at TTUN was being a bit slow in responding to requests to be a part of a clinic in the Southfield area, an event that has had the tenor of a UM/MSU pep rally in the past. When the staff of the event reached out to Coach Meyer, he jumped at the opportunity and will bringing the entire coaching staff with him to work with the campers on drills and build relationships with the folks in Hoke’s backyard. Great move, if you ask me… although I’m certain that he’ll refrain from purchasing any gas in that god-forsaken state.

Check Out The Big Brain On Brad! Coach Smith took to the twitters on Tuesday and gave love to the receivers who had excelled in the classroom… and we found out that, for Spring Quarter, Philly Brown managed to achieve a 3.9. Heck, that’s practically Krenzel-esque.

Congrats!- First and foremost to our own Joe Dexter (and apologies to his bride) who tied the knot on Tuesday. Second, Buckeye Mark Titus was betrothed over the past weekend as well… Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at the reception, which was sure to be a “who’s who” of OSU hoops.

And Condolences- Go out to Jake Ballard, who saw his breakout season with the world champion New York Giants end with an injury and a release from the team this week. Obviously, his recovery is not going as quickly as the team wanted… He landed on his feet, though, and was picked up by the Patriots on Tuesday. It’s uncertain what this means, as they’ve extended Gronk’s contract long term and have Aaron Hernandez as well… but it’s good to have another person in Foxboro to ensure that this continues to happen. Oh, and since we’re talking about the G-Men… imagine lining up on the opposite side of the line from this.

Something To Keep An Eye On- The next round of the “four team event” meetings between the major conferences start today in Chicago. Playoffs and expansion will, out of necessity, go together like the Thunder and second half comebacks.

Well I don’t worry about a splintering of the N.C.A.A. If schools or a conference wanted to create their own association and take on that role, that’d be fine. But those are their decisions, of course.

To the best of my knowledge, that’s the first time he’s acknowledged the possibility that some of the current institutions might reach a point where they’ve outgrown the NCAA- either due to finances involved, frustrations with NCAA limitations and oversight, or out of an attempt to move to a “professional” model for their student athletes (with remuneration). Again, as we move to “mega-conferences” with TV deals that are stratospheric, it’s not out of the imagination to think that the “haves” might want to move to their own affiliation; and that some of the “have-nots” might also see this as positive, since it gets them out of the financial arms race.

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-has-enough-ties.html/feed1Silver Bullet Points Takes A Meetinghttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-takes-a-meeting.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=silver-bullet-points-takes-a-meeting
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-takes-a-meeting.html#commentsWed, 30 May 2012 11:54:23 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=24678Somehow, we managed to avoid burning our eyebrows off during Monday’s festival of lighter fluid and are still able to get you thought hump day with the scoop across college sports. Buckeye 411 Vested Interest- Hopefully you were able to check out our Monday series honoring Coach Tressel, particularly the articles from those who knew […]

]]>Somehow, we managed to avoid burning our eyebrows off during Monday’s festival of lighter fluid and are still able to get you thought hump day with the scoop across college sports.

Buckeye 411

You're gonna' want to jot this down

Vested Interest- Hopefully you were able to check out our Monday series honoring Coach Tressel, particularly the articles from those who knew him on and off the field. What we missed, though, was the words of the man himself. Luckily, though, Doug Lesmerisis gave us an article tonight that did just that, as Tressel reflects on the last 12 months of change in his life. As you can imagine, though, there’s a lot of “Senator Speak”- polite words, nothing revealing… and to be honest, it made me miss him even more.

Getting Rank- Speaking of arbitrary numbers, Rivals updated their top 100 recruits in the country this morning, and lo and behold the Buckeyes find themselves with 4 in the top 50 and three in the top 20. Other B1G schools have two top 50 recruits combined, and no other school has three in the top 20. Not that there’s not room for growth, but that’s yet another handy thing to send north via the interwebs.

That Being Said, Part Deux- Illinois HS standout and rumored OSU lean Ethan Pocic gave his verbal to LSU today. You know what they say about the grass being tastier and all that.

Where Credit Is Due- Hats off to the Ohio State men’s tennis doubles pairing and women’s crew boat for winning national titles last weekend. I would have led with this earlier, but everyone knows that OSU is a tennis and crew school.

Who Doesn’t Love Meetings? This week is the SEC and B12 conference meetings, and there are whispers that Florida State, Clemson, and Notre Dame will have representation at the B12 gatherings- in spite of what some are saying, you can expect some of the news about dates and numbers and agreements to start trickling out on Wednesday, although nothing will be solidified until the June 20 date to set the format of “Four team event (4TE) that’s not playoffs”.

S!E!C!- In the Conference of Southern Aggression’s meetings, we can expect this week to hear more about a long term scheduling plan- a 6-1-1 plan- for the next 12 years. This plan would mean that each team would play the 6 teams in their division, one cross-division rival, and one rotating rival from the opposite division each year. So, it sounds as if they’re not looking to make any noise in the “expansion” merry go round, although that was their position last year before they picked up Mizzou and aTm.

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-takes-a-meeting.html/feed0Silver Bullet Points You Toward The Weekendhttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/sbp-notes-3.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sbp-notes-3
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/sbp-notes-3.html#commentsThu, 24 May 2012 11:54:30 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=24584SBP gets the ol’ bumperino this week to accommodate life. It happens, right? Buckeye 411 Well, Frick- The Lantern tonight released a story regarding 11-12 pending violations being processed by the NCAA. After the “46 violations and various raffle rigging” story from last week, you’ve got to think that the folks in Columbus are just […]

]]>SBP gets the ol’ bumperino this week to accommodate life. It happens, right?

Ooooh! Shiny!

Buckeye 411

Well, Frick- The Lantern tonight released a story regarding 11-12 pending violations being processed by the NCAA. After the “46 violations and various raffle rigging” story from last week, you’ve got to think that the folks in Columbus are just about tired of this type of coverage… I know that Buckeye Nation certainly is. The story doesn’t clarify which sports might be impacted or what the specifics of the situations are, so it could be that the NCAA decides that these are not “violations” after all, or we could find out that we’ve got a bunch of scofflaws on the OSU fencing team. Either way, we’ll find out as soon as it hits the front page of ESPN.

This Week In Comedy- In the article linked above, we’re reminded of the following regarding current AD Gene Smith:

Smith said multiple offenses by individual teams is a concern of his, especially if the violations committed are in relation to recruiting.

Smith was cited for breaking NCAA recruiting policy despite his distaste for recruiting infractions in particular.

“I intend to retire here as a Buckeye. You can never say never that you won’t do something else, but as far as athletic director or athletic administration, this is my last stop.”

I’m sure there are alumni and fans who have an opinion regarding that timeline.

That’s A Steele-Phil Steel’s Preseason All-B1G was released today. Some things made sense (Hankes, Simon on the first team), while others were just mind boggling. Braxton behind Captain Jump-ball? Roby on the 4th team? Just wow.

Scoring in Bunches- Shout out to the Baseball Bucks, who continued along in B1G play by scoring 11 runs in the 8th and 9th innings on their way to a 12- 5 come from behind victory over #3 seed Penn State. Next up? Purdue.

Shooty Hoops For Money- In the NBA playoffs, you’ve got to enjoy watching Evan Turner’s consistency and rebounding against the Celtics, and give kudos to Daequan Cook still alive with OKC in the Western Conference Finals. Oh, that’s right- Ohio State is a football school… silly me.

Elsewheres In College Sports

It’s A Snap! Look, if you make a longsnapper trick shot video, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have it posted here.

Expansion News- Nothing to “officially” report, but there is speculation that Georgia Tech is interested in being a part of the B1G should an offer come, and that they’d wait to hear from Delaney et. al. before considering any offers from other conferences. We’re also hearing that today is a Board of Trustee’s meeting for Clemson, with expansion topics on the table. However, it should be noted that you’re reading this while I’m on a flight to St. Louis; the past two trips to the Lou for me resulted in Nebraska joining the B1G and the “Tat-5″ situation. So, if it all goes pear shaped this week- you’re welcome.

Jim Mora’s Soliloquy Update- Good article today about the playoffs/plus one situation in college football (spoiler: Notre Dame wants to be “special”)- many have targeted June 20 as the date that it all becomes clearer. You’ve got to think that having the Rose Bowl (PAC/B1g and new Sugar Frosted Bowl (SEC/B12) in place that it will come back to a “plus one” model… which is not the same as a “plus model”, for all of our very confused readers from Indiana.

RIP- I’ve got heart and family in West Virginia, so Bill Stewart was someone that I was cheering for… heck, anyone who replaced Rich Rod has some positive vibes in my book. So, we keep his family and all of the Mountaineers in our thoughts this week upon news of his passing. Watch this and then see if your work productivity doesn’t go through the roof:

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/sbp-notes-3.html/feed2Silver Bullet Points Hears The Whispershttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-hears-the-whispers.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=silver-bullet-points-hears-the-whispers
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-hears-the-whispers.html#commentsWed, 16 May 2012 11:54:44 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=24424Buckeye 411 Shower Ends Sweat- This “Duh!” headline actually points to an interesting story Tuesday about why former Buckeye Andrew Sweat chose to end his bid at a professional career. According to the Dispatch, Sweat slipped in the shower the morning that mini-camp was to start and experienced concussive-like symptoms similar to what he wrestled […]

Shower Ends Sweat- This “Duh!” headline actually points to an interesting story Tuesday about why former Buckeye Andrew Sweat chose to end his bid at a professional career. According to the Dispatch, Sweat slipped in the shower the morning that mini-camp was to start and experienced concussive-like symptoms similar to what he wrestled with during his time in Columbus. After they lingered longer than he’d expected, he sat down and talked with his family; I’m sure the recent news about health issues in the NFL had to be at the back of his mind (OK, maybe not the best choice of phrase there). Given that he’s also been accepted to several law programs, it does make sense to look at the bigger picture- heck, even Michigan fans think so. Godspeed and best wishes, Mr. Sweat!

Hall Of Fame? More Like Hall O’ Lame, AmIRite?- The College Football Hall of Fame announced their incoming class, and somehow Orlando Pace was not amongst the nominees in spite of the fact that he was a potential candidate. Seriously- the best offensive tackle in the history of Ohio State sports, a two time Lombardi trophy winner and one of two people to win either the Lombardi/Outland three times. Pace was also a Heisman (!) finalist, and should have been a cake walk into the CHoF. Doubt me? Watch this video… Pace wasn’t the only snubbed choice, as Nebraska’s Tommie Frazier also missed the cut. You remember Frazier; three time National Championship Game MVP, Heisman runner up to Eddie George, and dude I met last fall. Video evidence hereabouts. You know who did get in? Ty Detmer, the guy who brought us such memorable moments as this.

Rocketman- JD Weatherspoon announced today what we’d expected for a while- he’s transferring to Toledo to finish his college career. Best of luck, ‘Spoon!

Let’s Duke This Again- The B1G/ACC Challenge matchups were announced, and the Buckeyes will be traveling to Cameron Indoor in a repeat of what was one of the most watched games of the 2011-12 season (and a dang fine ending at that). While the legend of Duke being a difficult place to play is definitely true, Buckeye faithful making a trip to Tobacco Road might be able to score some ducats, according to recent reports.

The football program has had the No. 1 Academic Progress Rate score among the Top 15 teams in the nation twice in the last three years, and its impressive 985 APR among all bowl teams in 2011-12 ranked fourth.

Playoffs, Expansion, and Finances

“In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war…” 2 Samuel 11:1a NLT

In the war rooms and board rooms of college football, late spring and summer is the time that athletic directors and conference commissioners go out looking for new territory to conquer. This year, the process started with the BCS/Playoff discussion from the luxurious retreat in Florida (even retreats are home games for Southern teams) which brought a commitment to the playoff four team event in the future. Following those conversations, the conference power brokers headed back to start discussions about what a playoff might look like… but that’s not all that was going on behind the scenes.

To understand the state of affairs in college athletics, and without using the old “search” box up there in the right corner, it’s important to understand that the heart of this matter is finances. While Eric was dead on about the foundational nature of Universities in Monday’s post (spoiler: they’re businesses), I believe that the current state of affairs actually craps on his point a bit- while he believes that there are redeeming qualities to major college football (as do I), these qualities are not the ones that are driving these dialogues. No one is arguing for changes in the postseason due to the educational opportunities it will create for students, nor is anyone working to change conference affiliations for the greater knowledge base that this will bring to the undergraduate population (Note- the B1G does have an arrangement that addresses this latter factor, in the CIC/AAU membership agreement). Nope, this is about bringing more dollars to the table.

Still Beating Michigan

In a roundabout way, though, you could argue that this might free up finances for the “regular” students or for academic departments and research endeavors. Here, take a look at this article and especially this interactive table from today’s USA Today (sorry, no pie-chart this time). In the table, you can go and sort by “percent subsidy” over on the right hand column- when you do that, you see that only seven institutions “break even” and do not function on any monies from state allocations or from student fees. The numbers for the rest of the programs are interesting- without looking you probably could have guessed which programs had 10% or less “need” to fall back on “outside” dollars… and it’s significant that many of these programs are in the B1G.

Too many, though, of major athletic programs are not fiscally independent and instead fall back on the student and taxpayers to exist. At a time, then, when finances for students are a real concern and when state budgets are falling shorter and shorter, you can understand how athletic departments would see revenue generation as their most important function (although I’d argue that cutting head coaches’ salaries might also be an option).

It also explains why it’s easier for some programs to “turn their head” with NCAA violations- it could be that they’ve chosen to spend more energy in PR and fundraising than working toward compliance… choosing to seek money rather than monitor the possibility that their amateur athletes might be doing the same.

Which brings us home to the B1G. Always fiscally responsible, the Big Ten Network has significantly benefited these programs’ ability to function in the black. As we’ve talked about numerous times before, ESPN’s decision to “encourage” the conference to create their own network has led us to where we are today- the SEC/ACC/PAC/B1G2/bigEast shuffles are all about television dollars to help support these programs… but not all of them.

So, with that background out there, let’s hit up the latest news and notes. First, conference realignment.

ACC U Later- Ever since last summer, the rumors were swirling that Florida State and Clemson might be headed to the Big 12 to help them reach that number. With recent decisions regarding the ACC ESPN deal, frustration came yet again for the non-basketball members of the conference, and the discussion of at least the Seminoles heading west has heated up extensively.

We are, seemingly, getting closer to a time when there will be four major football conferences (the same number as playoff participants), and the Big East and ACC will be relegated to basketball focused organizations. Speaking of playoffs:

In Case You Missed That- Instead of finally forcing warm weather teams to come north in December/January for a significant game, the powers that be in the B1G have said they’d rather support a bowl system that’s been proven to be bloated, corrupt, and a huge money pit for most participating institutions. Dr. Tom Osborne even said today that doing a playoff outside of the bowls would “Destroy the bowl system.” With all due respect, and knowing full well that this will end up with me sleeping on a couch- Are you out of your everhusking mind, Tom? You say that like it’s a bad thing…

As If It Couldn’t Get Worse- Everyone’s favorite bag of wet sand came out today and supported this initiative, stating that his perspective has “shifted” on it. He also advocates that selection committees be used to make the final decision regarding who the teams would be; which only makes sense given the bang up job that he’s done on the Tournament selection committee. One positive note, though- they are pushing for a “seven wins to be bowl eligible” clause that will either kill some of the stupider bowl games or mean that more cupcake/gate receipt opportunities will be on the future schedules of major programs looking for those easy wins.

Not Alone- Texas’ DeLoss Dodds also likes the idea of having a selection committee, but disagrees with Dr. Tom (big surprise there); holding instead that the “four team event” should be separate from the bowls in locations that are awarded by a bid process.

Incompetence Personified- You know that this is a bullet point about Charlie Weis, given the title. What you might not know is that the “incompetence” alluded to is in reference to whatever idiot agreed to his contract while he was in South Bend- the one that has paid him $8.7 million dollars since he was terminated by the Irish. Oh, and he’ll keep getting paid through 2015- I knew they should have taken him up on his offer of remuneration via polish sausage and sauerkraut.

]]>http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/silver-bullet-points-hears-the-whispers.html/feed0Is It Time To Ban Silver Bullet Points? That's Debatablehttp://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/is-it-time-to-ban-silver-bullet-points-thats-debatable.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-it-time-to-ban-silver-bullet-points-thats-debatable
http://thebuckeyebattlecry.com/college-football/ohio-state-football/is-it-time-to-ban-silver-bullet-points-thats-debatable.html#commentsWed, 09 May 2012 11:54:43 +0000http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/?p=24351May’s second midweek madness gets existential. The big story of the day was the “discussion” about the future of our favorite sport- more on that after the jump. Buckeye 411 Sandman. Freak of Nature. The guys at CBS Sports have taken a look across the college football landscape, and identified the physical specimen that we […]

]]>May’s second midweek madness gets existential. The big story of the day was the “discussion” about the future of our favorite sport- more on that after the jump.

Well, shoot.

Buckeye 411

Sandman. Freak of Nature. The guys at CBS Sports have taken a look across the college football landscape, and identified the physical specimen that we should keep our eyes on. tBBC Crush (seriously, I’m confident that he could crush all of us at once) John Simon makes the list for his tangibles and his work ethic; both of which are important factors in his leadership of this Buckeye team.

But one thing is for sure – Urban Meyer will bring hardware back to Columbus with him before all is said and done. Gold pants, B1G titles and crystal footballs. For everyone who has piled on over the last twelve months – from those in Ann Arbor, Madison, and SEC country to those posted up at the headquarters of ESPN, Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News – there’s simply no way around it. Urban Meyer wins, and he wins big.

In more than 20 years I’ve spent studying the issue, I have yet to hear a convincing argument that college football has anything do with what is presumably the primary purpose of higher education: academics.

Some studies have even suggested that annual giving to the university increases on account of athletics. Though few studies have been able to tie that into actual success, a Master’s Thesis by Auburn graduate Christopher Whaley in 2006 found football alone was worth an average of $3.3 million in additional donations.

There’s another, but equally important reason we should require all activities to be college football: academics. Did you know 100% of high school dropouts have never played college football? Did you know the same is true of MIDDLE SCHOOL dropouts? These are the kids who are falling through the cracks, and we need this to save them.

OK- My take on this debate (I know you’ve been waiting for it). Look, I work at a D2 school and have worked in athletics at D1 and D3 schools. I get college athletics, and love it. I believe it’s got a value that cannot be easily measured by some of the normative analysis models.

That being said… I’m having a hard time with the following things, moving forward-

I agree with Buzz. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t see how big time college athletics fits the academic mission of most Universities; To be fair, the same can be said for Greek Life, Student Activities, Homecoming Celebrations, etc… the co-curricular can be a great addition to the University; however, I see more misses than hits in terms of education (versus entertainment). Case in point- why are the entrance requirements and matriculation expectation for athletes often significantly different than the rest of the student body. There’s been debate about “affirmative action” quotas at Universities; we’re not asking why someone gets in with poor scores and a 95 mile an hour fastball or ability to play the cello?

Show me the money- Eric and I were talking about this yesterday; Football brings in revenue that runs many athletic departments. YET, many athletic departments still run in the red. While football is a revenue generator, I’m also positive that the expenditures to have football at the highest level are also pretty significant. You’ve got to spend money to make money, true- but if you didn’t have football, you’d not have some of the crazy salaries, huge facilities only accessible by athletes (in spite of being funded by all of the student body), the tuition/meals/gear/support staff/academic support staff/etc necessary for 100 very large fellers. Losing a revenue source like football is a death knell for many women’s sports, who are funded by fall ticket sales and so forth; but it might also balance out, since Title IX strives for equality. If you’re not spending money or giving opportunities to a large number of men, you can lose similar funding/opportunities for women’s sports. These are not, by the way, my idea… just things I think about.

“Student-Athlete” is a lie- Given that, I’m inclined to believe that students in high profile sports are being taken advantage of (mutually, but still) more than many of them are benefiting. For example- basketball. This year’s national title team is more than likely made up of “students” who took enough credits to stay eligible in the fall; with many of these being frontloaded into September and October (before March Madness). After that, it’s all basketball all the time- through early April (right about midterm times, if that mattered). Look at the Atlantic’s article that we’ve linked to so many times… the idea that these young adults are playing sports for their educational edification is a created construct that quite frequently fails to benefit the young adult- particularly if you look at the numbers of participants nationwide -vs- numbers of opportunities post college career.

Medical issues are real-The Atlantic, again… “Student Athlete” was created to prevent the Universities from having to address workman’s compensation issues following an injury “on the job”. What happens when, after graduating or leaving the school, a football player starts having knee, back, joint, hip, neck, or brain issues? Are they able to get the care they need from the institution? Perhaps- but Gladwell is right; a few well placed lawsuits are all that’s needed to gut the athletic departments at many schools.

None of this should surprise both of our regular readers hereabouts, as we’ve pondered aloud about this for quite some time now. But I’m still seeking to find peace in the tension between the ideal and reality; particularly since I love the Bucks as much as I do. To be honest, my thoughts on this would be a lot clearer if any of the following, barely formed ideas, started to come to fruition:

Football as a degree/intership- Universities don’t have a problem with students majoring in music and making money/receiving academic credit for their talent and time; why not sports? Shouldn’t there be some practical life-application stuff that would help prepare these men and women for “careers inside of sports”- the NFL already has to do a lot of grooming for rookies when they come to the league; why shouldn’t there be a partnership that makes this “sports business” a train of academic exploration? Oh, and don’t water it down either- if you’re teaching life skills, teach them as if lives depended on it.

Academic Investment- Yup, students get “free” room, board, tuition, and other significant perks. What about giving them all the degrees they want for free, as both a “thank you” for what they’ve done for the University AND as a way to encourage students to take life in the classroom seriously. The University will pay for you to finish your degree, if you leave in good standing (no BS “academic redshirts”, Nick). If you are a on field contributor for more than two years, the University will also support your pursuit of a Master’s degree. Four years? We’ll look forward to calling you “doctor”.

Minor Leagues- Another option? Take the biggest programs (you can probably name 60 or so of them right now), pull them out of the NCAA, and have them be what they really are- NFL Farm Teams. Let young adults work with agents, have some sort of agreement with the Universities (facility rental, branding, etc.), and get this right. And that includes playoffs and long term health care- although I guess the League would need to work that out with the current arrangement first.

Again, these are just things that are rattling around my head… reforming college sports has been a target for a long time; and it may just be too big to fail. Until it does.

There’s no waiting for a press conference on BTN, or a newspaper clipping from The Dispatch with hopes there’s a quote or two in there from your favorite player. Just manage your way out of the stadium and wait about ten minutes before hopping on Twitter. You’re sure to find any number of players, all of which you just watched perform at the highest collegiate level, bombing out tweets to coaches, teammates and, yes, you the fan. That ease of access to these ‘celebrities’ – and their willingness to participate – is the root of a potential problem.

What A Difference A Day Makes- According to sources, Anzalone still has OSU on his list, so you’ve got to wonder if President Gee’s email to his folks helped at all.

Another Perspective- Then there’s Joey Bosa’s response- “I’m not going to let a stupid little weirdo like that define Ohio State to me.” Mike Heuerman’s dad’s take? “”My goodness, you might as well blame Urban Meyer for the budget deficit if you’re going to blame him for someone taking a picture with a guy in a restaurant.””